THE Singapore Exchange (SGX) issued a "trade with caution" note on
United Engineers on Friday in view of the substantial 7.52 per cent
increase in its share price on Thursday.

United Engineers has responded on Friday that other than the
announcements relating to discussions by controlling shareholders
previously announced in August last year and February this year, "it was
not aware of any other reasons that could possibly explain the trading
in its securities".

The group had disclosed previously that its controlling shareholders,
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd and Great Eastern Holdings Ltd,
have been approached by a party in connection with a possible
transaction relating to their combined stakes in United Engineers and
WBL Corporation Ltd. It had said that this may or may not lead to an
offer for the shares of the group and WBL.

The SGX said on Friday that shareholders and potential investors
should exercise caution when dealing in the securities. "We also wish to
highlight that this is the third query on unusual trading activities in
the shares of United Engineers Ltd in the past six months," the SGX
added.

[SGX] Retail sales in Singapore rose 2.6 per cent in December
compared with the previous year but only because sales of cars and other
vehicles jumped 41 per cent in the month, accrding to figures from the
Department of Statistics on Friday.

As in the previous month, the car market has been hot because some
owners who bought cars between 2004 and 2008 - when the supply of
certificates of entitlement was high - will soon have to deregister
them. This means there are now more buyers out looking for replacement
vehicles.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

[SGX] Singapore's economy likely expanded more than initially
estimated in the fourth quarter, a Reuters poll showed, after the
city-state's manufacturing output in December held up better than
expected.

According to the median forecast of 11 economists polled by Reuters,
gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter likely expanded 1.7
per cent from a year earlier, faster than the 1.5 per cent growth in the
advance estimate of GDP released on Jan. 2.

The poll also showed that fourth-quarter GDP probably grew 2.1 per
cent from the third quarter on an annualised, seasonally-adjusted basis.
That would beat the 1.6 per cent pace in the government's advance
estimate.

Economists said fourth-quarter growth was likely to be revised higher
given data late last month which showed manufacturing output in
December fell less than expected on year-on-year terms, and held up
better than what was implied by the October-December GDP advance
estimate.

Singapore shares were up on Tuesday with the benchmark Straits Times Index gaining 16.22 points to close at 3,434.24.Volume was 973.6 million shares worth S$1.12 billion.Gainers outnumbered losers 207 to 204.

(SGX)The damaging SwissLeaks revelations are rooted in a massive
cache of whistleblower data handed to two overwhelmed French reporters
who decided they would need the help of an international collective to
decrypt it.

A thumb drive containing hundreds of thousands of documents had
landed at the front desk of French daily Le Monde in early 2014, days
after the paper published an expose about people using Swiss bank
accounts to hide money from the tax man.

At the weekend, the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists (ICIJ) published the data, claiming banking giant HSBC's
Swiss division helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on
accounts containing US$119 billion.

The source of the documents had seen Le Monde's tax story, written by
Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, and wanted to "give them a hand,"
Lhomme told France Inter radio, refusing to divulge the source. The
documents were originally provided to the French government by a
whistleblower.

Monday, February 9, 2015

British bank HSBC Holdings Plc admitted on Sunday
failings by its Swiss subsidiary, in response to media reports it helped
wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of
assets.

"We acknowledge and are accountable for past compliance
and control failures," HSBC said on Sunday after news outlets including
French newspaper Le Monde and Britain’s The Guardian published
allegations about its Swiss private bank.

The Guardian, along with other news outlets, cited
documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists (ICIJ) via Le Monde.

HSBC said that its Swiss arm had not been fully
integrated into HSBC after its purchase in 1999, allowing "significantly
lower" standards of compliance and due diligence to persist.

The Guardian alleged in its report that the files
showed HSBC's Swiss bank routinely allowed clients to withdraw “bricks”
of cash, often in foreign currencies which were of little use in
Switzerland, marketed schemes which were likely to enable wealthy
clients to avoid European taxes and colluded with some to conceal
undeclared accounts from domestic tax authorities.

HSBC said the Swiss private banking industry, long
known for its secrecy, operated differently in the past and this may
have resulted in HSBC having had "a number of clients that may not have
been fully compliant with their applicable tax obligations."

Its private bank, especially its Swiss arm, had
undergone "a radical transformation" in recent years, it said in a
detailed four-page statement.

HSBC's Swiss private bank was largely acquired as part
of its purchase of Republic National Bank of New York and Safra Republic
Holdings, a U.S. private bank.

HSBC said the number of accounts in its Swiss private
bank had fallen from 30,412 in 2007 to 10,343 at the end of last year
and it was cooperating with authorities investigating tax matters.

The data was supplied by Herve Falciani, a former IT
employee of HSBC's Swiss private bank. HSBC said Falciani downloaded
details of accounts and clients at the end of 2006 and early 2007.
French authorities have obtained data on thousands of the customers and
shared them with tax authorities elsewhere, including Argentina.

Switzerland has charged Falciani, who Reuters was
unable to reach for comment, with industrial espionage and breaching the
country's secrecy laws. Falciani has previously told Reuters he is a
whistleblower trying to help governments track down citizens who used
Swiss accounts to evade tax.

Some of the details of the list have been released
before. The names of 2,000 Greeks with HSBC accounts was made public in
2010 and dubbed the "Lagarde List" after former French finance minister
Christine Lagarde. France passed the names to Greece to help it crack
down on tax evasion.